Dance Techniques 2010

138 Working Somatically
In an era in which neurosciences are booming, and speed and energy expenditure are
accelerating in line with the ‘higher, faster, further’ motto, it is not just in dancers’ lives
that somatic practices are becoming more important. Natural scientists’ image–guided
procedures are now making switching operations, and thus mental flexibility, visible; for
example, how impulses from particular areas of the muscular system are passed along.
The brain’s development is seen as an integrative and continuous process within a large
network that has no higher command center. Through computer–assisted analyses, kinesiology
nowadays is re-opening the field where the pioneers once worked and recognized
that every thought and feeling has an impact on the constitution, and embodies itself.
More sophisticated research is being carried out into questions about perception (i.e., the
function of the senses in the coordination of movement), the role of equilibrioception and
with it the vestibular system in the inner ear and kinetics, and how strength and movement
in the gravity field have affected the evolution of humans and animals.
A look back
The findings of Charles Scott Sherrington triggered a revolution in perception. In his
book, The Integrative Action of the Nervous System, from 1906, the neurophysiologist
highlighted the significance of proprioceptive sensibility in self–awareness, and discovered
that the synapse was the junction of two nerve cells. The kinesthetic sense, also
known as the sense of movement, expanded the spectrum of the five senses and caused
a cultural explosion. The ideas of François Delsarte (1811–1871) about the emotional
origin of every gesture had already spread across Europe and the U.S. by the end of the
19th century. The forerunners of free dance—Isadora Duncan, Ted Shawn, and Ruth
St. Denis—relied as much on his holistic teachings as did Bess Mensendieck and Geneviève
Stebbins (the initiators of breathing and body exercises), and F. M. Alexander and
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (the latter’s ‘educational establishment’ for rhythm in Hellerau
thus becoming a breeding ground for artistic reform). Kröschlová and Chladek were
deeply involved in cultivating dance in Hellerau. At the same time, Rudolf von Laban
was at work in his Arts School on Monte Verità, the cradle of German expressionist
dance. Psychoanalysis gave the soul a voice. Education reformers freed themselves from
authoritarian shackles, and the gymnastics movement pursued its vision of harmoniously
training the body. This formed the basis for the development of new body concepts, and
what body therapist Thomas Hanna called ‘somatic culture’. 8 We do not know how
things would have developed without National Socialism in Germany, as Elsa Gindler’s
research material was destroyed during the bombing of Berlin. William Forsythe is now
based at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, which was built in 1911 and has been beautifully
restored. Forsythe, who speaks of the materialization of the dancer’s body through the
mind, makes idiosyncratic use of Laban’s space harmony theories (Choreutics) in his
choreographies. Such is history.
The most important somatic movement methods used either in modern–day dance
teaching or that are historically relevant are discussed below. They can also be found as
independent subjects in dance training course around the world. Although somatic movement
methods work well in treating injuries or as therapies, their potential for teaching
artistic development in dance as well as self–development should not be underestimated.
8 Thomas Hanna quoted in Helmut Milz:
Mit Kopf, Hand, Fuss, Bauch und Herz –
Ganzheitliche Medizin und Gesundheit.
Munich: Piper, 1994, p. 77.
9 “Welcher ‘Schwung’ fürs Tanzen und Springen
und wie wenig wirklicher Schwung bei
der täglichen Arbeit.”: Elsa Gindler quoted by
Sophie Ludwig: Elsa Gindler – von ihrem Leben
und Wirken. Wahrnehmen, was wir empfinden.
Hamburg: Christians Verlag, 2002, p. 98.
10 “Sie müssen verlernen, was sie gelernt
haben, und das ist das Schwerste, was es
gibt. Was wir gelernt haben, scheint stärker
zu sein als unsere eigene Natur, die dadurch
verdrängt wird.”: Elsa Gindler quoted in
Charlotte Selver in Peggy Zeitler (Ed.):
Erinnerungen an Elsa Gindler. Munich: P.
Zeitler, 1991, p. 70.